


There's No Definition of Family

by orphan_account



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 15:32:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2626886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Oliver finding out about his child and telling "Team Arrow" that he will watch over him but not be in his life because he doesn't want to bring his darkness into his life and the team explaining how he's impacted each of them for good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's No Definition of Family

Roy, Digg, and Felicity stood expectantly in the foundry as Oliver bounded down the stairs towards them, a closed look masking his features.

“Well? Did you meet him?” Digg prompted, and Oliver glanced mildly in his direction before standing before his bow, studying it without looking at the rest of the team.

“I’m handling it,” Oliver said dismissively, evading the topic. Roy and Felicity exchanged a wild look.

“Handing it?” Felicity questioned incredulously, approaching him from behind, “What does that even mean?”

“I’m going to watch over him—support him, like I should have been doing for years,” Oliver said, and although the words themselves were acceptable, Roy’s eyes narrowed at Oliver’s tone.

“Support him—you mean by being in his life, right?” Roy said harshly, causing Oliver to turn around at the edge in his voice.

“No,” Oliver said resolutely, “But I will make sure he has everything he ever needs—” Oliver stared, and was startled by Roy’s fury.

“What he needs is a father! Not money or support—he has all that, thanks to your mother,” Roy started, voice rising rapidly, “Nobody deserves to be tossed off to the side. I can’t believe you would even think of—”

“Roy, calm down,” Digg said hesitantly, watching as each of Roy’s words sent a spark of shame through Oliver’s eyes that faded quickly into steely resolve, “Let’s just talk about this.”

“What is there to discuss?” Roy asked, “Oliver prides himself on taking care of the people of this city but he won’t even take care of his own son!”

“Roy,” Felicity snapped angrily, and Roy looked at her in surprise, “Enough.”

A heavy silence fell over the foundry as Roy controlled his angry breaths and Oliver struggled to meet their eyes. 

Felicity stepped toward Oliver tentatively, resting a hand on his arm and urging him to look at her.

“What’s he like?” She asked, cocking her head at him. She watched as his eyes lost their coolness and a smile ghosted his face.

“He’s great— a lot like Thea was at his age, actually. Hyper, talkative, mischievous. He’s a little bit bigheaded,” Oliver allowed himself a humorless chuckle.

“He probably got that part from you,” Felicity said with a smile, and Oliver’s eyes went round at the thought, looking at her with a touch of awe.

“Maybe,” Oliver said, before his eyes closed off again, “But that’s all he needs to get from me.”

Felicity and Digg exchanged a look, understanding settling over them.

“Oliver, just because you let him into your life, doesn’t mean he has to be a part of this life,” Digg said.

Oliver looked up at him with a frustrated glance.

“This is my life Digg! Anyone in it is at risk, to bring a kid into this…” Oliver started, “I hurt everyone around me. All I would be bringing is darkness into his life. You guys chose this life—to work with me, and look at the bad that has happened to all of you!”

“Yes Oliver, bad things have happened,” Digg interrupted, “But so have good things. This crusade has changed us all.”

Oliver looked at them incredulously, staying silent.

“Before this…” Roy started, and Oliver glanced at him fully for the first time since his outburst, noting the anger that had faded from his body, “Before this I had nothing. I lived in the Glades, stole from people, I had no family…”

Roy looked around a moment at them as they watched intently, and he gulped bashfully, “Well you guys have made up for that. Oliver, you gave me a purpose. You made me realize that I could help fix some of the bad things in this city. You made my life better,” Roy finished with a shrug. Oliver stopped playing with his bow, focusing on Roy who gave him a reassuring look.

“Oliver, after coming back from Afghanistan,” Digg said, directing their attention to him, “I was stuck taking care of trust fund brats instead of fighting real battles. And then I was hired to protect Oliver Queen: Billionare,” Digg said, earning a smile from Oliver.

“You really pissed me off when you kept trying to sneak away from me,” Digg laughed back, “But you convinced me that this—being the Arrow— was about helping the city. You brought me back to what it was like to be doing good for others,” Digg said.

“You’re a better man than I have ever been,” Oliver admitted.

“Maybe,” Digg acquiesced, with a bashful shake of his head, “But Oliver, you’ve come a long way from that person I first met, and well… you changed my life man.”

“You changed all of ours,” Felicity said with a smile, “And although there have been risks, yes, you’ve made them better. You guys—all of you guys,” Felicity looked around at all of them, “Well, you’re my family now.”

“And I know it’s going to be scary,” Felicity said, speaking to Oliver, “Getting to know this kid you never even knew existed. I know that you think you’re going to be a bad influence on him, but Oliver, I think you’re the best thing that’s going to happen to him.”

Felicity hesitated a moment, before building up the nerve to approach Oliver and lay a hand on his cheek. He leaned in slightly to her cool hand, feeding off of her sure words.

“You can teach him how to be brave and selfless. How to take care of people. You can teach him things nobody has ever taught him—it doesn’t matter whether or not you tell him about all this,” Felicity looked around affectionately at the Foundry, “Because whether he knows about this life or not, you’ll still be a hero to him.”

Felicity removed her hand from cupping his cheek as his eyes came back to life at her words.

“I don’t know how to be a dad,” Oliver’s voice was still broken, but the resolve that was there earlier had faltered, “I didn’t have any time to prepare! I’m not ready!”

“Oliver, I had nine months notice with Sara and I still wasn’t ready when the time came,” Digg said with humor, “I don’t think anyone’s ever really ready. You just have to go for it—no turning back.”

The team watched as Oliver’s face began to shed it’s worried state, a curious look flooding his face.

“No turning back,” he repeated, pondering.

“Exactly,” Digg said, “And one day you’ll look back and wonder how you could have ever questioned it at all.”


End file.
